thus washing her hands; I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour. Lady. Yet here's a spot. Phy. Hark, she speaks.

Lady. Out, damned spot! out, I say!-One; Two; Why, then 'tis time to do't:-Hell is murky!-Fie, my lord, fie! a soldier, and afeard? what need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?-Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

Phy. Do you mark that?

Lady. The Thane of Fife had a wife; where is she now? What, will these hands ne'er be clean! No more o'that, my lord, no more o'that: you mar all with this starting.

Phy. Go to, go to; you have known what you should not.

Gent. She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that: Heaven knows what she has known.

Lady. Here's the smell of the blood still: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh! oh! oh!

Phy. What a sigh is there! The heart is sorely charg'd.

Gent. I would not have such a heart in my bosom, for the dignity of the whole body.

Lady. Wash your hands, put on your night-gown; look not so pale:I tell you yet again, Banquo's buried he cannot come out of his grave.

Phy. Even so?

Lady. To bed, to bed; there's knocking at the gate. Come, come, come, come, give me your hand; what's done, cannot be undone: To bed, to bed, to bed. [Exit LADY MACBETH.

Phy. Will she now go to bed?
Gent. Directly.

Phy. More needs she the divine, than the physi

cian.

Look after her;

Remove from her the means of all annoyance,
And still keep eyes upon her.→

Good Heaven, forgive us all!

[Exeunt PHYSICIAN and GENTLEWOMAN.

SCENE II.

A Hall in the Castle at Dunsinane.

Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.

Enter MACBETH and Six GENTLEMEN.

Macb. Bring me no more reports; let them fly all: Till Birnam wood remove to Dunsinane,

I cannot taint with fear. What's the boy Malcolm? Was not he born of woman? The spirits that know All mortal consequences have pronounc'd me thus: "Fear not, Macbeth; no man, that's born of woman, "Shall e'er have power upon thee."-Then fly, false thanes,

And mingle with the English epicures:

The mind I sway by, and the heart I bear,
Shall never sagg with doubt, nor shake with fear.

Enter SECOND OFFICER.

The devil damn thee black, thou cream-fac'd loon! Where got'st thou that goose look?

2 Off. There is ten thousandMacb. Geese, villain?

2 Off. Soldiers, sir.

Macb. Go, prick thy face, and over-red thy fear, Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch? Death of thy soul? those linen cheeks of thine Are counsellors to fear. What soldiers, whey-face? 2 Off. The English force, so please you.

Macb. Take thy face hence.Seyton!-I am sick at heart,

[Exit OFFICER.

When I behold-Seyton, I say!-This push
Will cheer me ever, or disseat me now.
I have liv'd long enough: my way of life
Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf:
And that, which should accompany old age,
As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have: but, in their stead,
Curses, not loud, but deep, mouth-honour, breath,
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not.
Seyton!-

:

Enter SEYTON.

Sey.. What is your gracious pleasure?
Macb. What news more?

Sey. All is confirm'd, my lord, which was reported. Macb. I'll fight, till from my bones my flesh be hack'd.

Give me my armour.

Sey. 'Tis not needed yet.

Macb. I'll put it on.—

Enter PHYSICIAN.

Send out more horses, skirr the country round;

Hang those that talk of fear.

How does your patient, doctor?

Phy. Not so sick, my lord,

[Exit SEYTON.

As she is troubled with thick-coming fancies,
That keep her from her rest.

Macb. Cure her of that:

Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd;
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow;
Raze out the written troubles of the brain;
And, with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the foul bosom of that perilous stuff,
Which weighs upon the heart?

Phy. Therein the patient

Must minister to himself.

Enter SEYTON, with the King's Truncheon, and a GENTLEMAN, with his Armour.

Macb. Throw physic to the dogs, I'll none of it.Give me my staff:

Seyton, send out:-Doctor, the thanes fly from me:If thou could'st, doctor, cast

The water of my land, find her disease,

And purge it to a sound and pristine health,
I would applaud thee to the very echo,

That should applaud again.—

What rhubarb, senna, or what purgative drug, Would scour these English hence?-Hearest thou of them?

Phy. Ay, my good lord, your royal preparation Makes us hear something.

Macb. Bring it after me.

I will not be afraid of death and bane,
Till Birnam forest come to Dunsinane.

[Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.-Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Birnam Forest.-A March.

Enter MALCOLM, SIWARD, MACDUFF, LENOX, ROSSE, and SOLDIERS.

Mal. Cousins, I hope, the days are near at hand, That chambers will be safe.

Macd. We doubt it nothing.

Siw. What wood is this before us?

Len. The wood of Birnam.

Mal. Let every soldier hew him down a bough,
And bear't before him; thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host, and make discovery
Err in report of us.

Len. It shall be done.

Rosse. We learn no other, but the confident tyrant Keeps still in Dunsinane, and will endure Our setting down before't.

Macd. "Tis his main hope:

For where there is advantage to be gone,

Both more and less have given him the revolt;
And none serve with him but constrained things,
Whose hearts are absent too.

Siw. Let our just censures

Attend the true event, and put we on
Industrious soldiership.

Macd. The time approaches,

That will with due decision make us know
What we shall say we have, and what we owe.
Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate;
But certain issue strokes must arbitrate:
Towards which advance the war.

[March.-Exeunt into the Wood.

SCENE IV.

The Ramparts of the Castle at Dunsinane.

Flourish of Trumpets and Drums.

Enter MACBETH, SEYTON, and ATTENDANTS. Macb. Hang out our banners on the outward walls; The cry is still," They come:" Our castle's strength Will laugh a siege to scorn: here let them lie, Till famine, and the ague, eat them Were they not forc'd with those that should be ours, We might have met them dareful, beard to beard, And beat them backward home.

up:

What is that noise?

[A Cry within, of Women.